PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University baseball team will travel to Edmond, Okla., to open the 2025 season in the seventh annual Edmond First Pitch Classic hosted by the Central Oklahoma.

The Gorillas are one of eight teams competing in the 14-game event four days beginning Friday (Jan. 31). The host school, UCO, the Gorillas and MIAA rival Emporia State University are joined in the field by Great American Conference members East Central University, Oklahoma Baptist University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference member Metropolitan State University Denver and Great Lakes Valley Conference member University of Missouri-St. Louis round out the field.
 
Pitt State will make its season debut Friday at 1 p.m. (CST) against Oklahoma Baptist. The Gorillas also will face East Central at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 1) and MSU Denver at 9:30 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 2).
 
The Gorillas posted a 34-18 overall record and a 22-11 mark in MIAA play in 2024. Pitt State advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 MIAA Postseason Tournament.
 
Head coach Bob Fornelli is back for his seventh season as the Gorillas skipper. Fornelli ranks fourth among active NCAA Division II coaches in victories (1,078) and 10^th in winning percentage (.691) with a 1,078-483 record in 28 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He has a 173-104 record at Pitt State.
 
Senior catcher Nixon Brannan, a 2023 NCAA Division II All-America selection and a two-time All-Central Region pick (2023-24), headlines the Gorillas' returning offensive cast.
 
Brannan (San Angelo, Texas) batted .343 with 43 runs scored, 15 doubles, 15 home runs and 50 RBI last spring. He was a second-team All-MIAA and second-team All-Region selection after earning first-team All-MIAA and second-team All-America accolades in 2023.
 
Senior outfielder Josh Holmes also returns after garnering honorable mention All-MIAA honors last year. Holmes (Lenexa, Kan.) hit .311 with 50 runs scored, five home runs, 27 RBI and a team-leading 22 stolen bases to his credit.
 
Senior infielder Austin Warkins (Haysville, Kan.) batted .305 with 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 50 RBI in 2024. Warkins, an honorable mention All-MIAA pick in 2023, has 38 doubles, 19 home runs and 89 RBI to his credit during his two-year Pitt State career.
 
Senior outfielder Karson Coffee (Bentonville, Ark.) also is back after battling through an injury shortened 2024 campaign in which he hit .294 with seven home runs and 29 RBI in 27 games played. Coffee, a second-team All-MIAA and honorable mention All-Region selection in 2023, has a .317 career batting average. He's compiled 25 doubles, 18 home runs and 81 RBI in 98 career games.
 
Senior infielder Hayden Dyer (Gardner, Kan.) also hit .336 in 37 games played last year with 13 doubles and 21 RBI. Redshirt junior outfielder Jake Skaggs (Walnut Grove, Mo.) also is back for his second season in the Pitt State program after redshirting in 2024.  Skaggs was a two-time All-Jayhawk Conference performer at Fort Scott Community College.
 
The Gorillas also welcome back a trio of pitchers with All-MIAA credentials from the 2024 season:  senior RHP Tanner Leslie, senior RHP Brady Pacha and senior RHP Boston Dowd.

Leslie (Haysville, Kan.) made 15 starts in 16 overall appearances, posting a team-leading 10-3 record with a 5.76 ERA in 75.0 innings of work. He earned second-team All-MIAA honors last year after an honorable mention All-MIAA campaign in 2023. Leslie has a 14-7 career record with two saves and a 5.31 ERA in 145.2 innings of work for the Gorillas.
 
Dowd (Anderson, Mo.) also received second-team All-MIAA honors as a relief pitcher in 2024. He appeared in a team high 19 games, posting a 4-1 record with a 4.20 ERA and one save in 30.0 innings pitched. Dowd has pitched in 41 career games and he has a 5-2 record with a 5.11 ERA.
 
Pacha (Wichita, Kan.) started 13 games on the mound for the Gorillas last year. He compiled a 3-4 record with a 5.96 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 54.1 innings of work to claim honorable mention All-MIAA recognition.
 
Senior RHP Cadyn Castellanos (Murrieta, Calif.) and redshirt sophomore LHP Landon Reith (De Soto, Kan.) also figure to see action in the Pitt State bullpen this spring. Castellanos posted a 5-2 record with a 4.28 ERA in 17 appearances last year, while Reith sported a 3-0 record and a 5.40 ERA in 15 appearances.

Junior infielder Dagen Brewer, graduate outfielder Alex Rodgers, senior infielder Rickey Sanchez and senior infielder Kadyn Williams all figure to impact the Pitt State lineup this weekend.
 
Brewer (Topeka) was the 2022 Jayhawk Conference Freshman of the Year and a 2023 first-team NJCAA All-American at Johnson County Community College. Rodgers (Omaha, Neb.) joins the Gorillas from NCAA Division I Oral Roberts University. He garnered NJCAA All-America honors at Barton Community College. Sanchez (Mexico City) comes to Pitt State from NCAA Division I Lamar University. He also was an NJCAA All-American at Barton CC. Williams (Emporia, Kan.) was a three-time honorable mention All-MIAA performer at MIAA rival Emporia State, where he compiled 105 career runs scored, 26 home runs and 126 RBI.
 
Newcomers Maddox Thornton (Graduate, RHP), Kolby Dougan (Graduate, RHP) and Braxton Haywood (Sophomore, RHP) all figure to see action on the mound for Pitt State this weekend.
 
Thornton (Bentonville, Ark.) posted a 7-2 career record at Crowder College and registered six saves last spring at NCAA Division I University of Texas-Corpus Christi. Dougan (Topeka) appeared in 65 career games at the University of Kansas, posting a 3-4 record with two saves and 114 strikeouts in 91.2 innings of work. Haywood (Rogers, Ark.) garnered first-team All-Jayhawk Conference honors at Labette Community College in 2024.
 
Junior RHP Cooper Crouch (Webb City, Mo./Crowder College) and junior RHP Ryan Leiker (Independence, Kan./Coffeyville C.C.) also will look to be impact performers on the mound for the Gorillas.